Memo to both sides: loosen up or lose power

Share via

Christopher Shale was right. The Tories are being smothered with their own safety blankets — but so is Labour

The death of Christopher Shale, the chairman of David Cameron’s constituency Conservative association, has already prompted a political “whodunnit” at Westminster. Even as his family mourn the man described by the Prime Minister as his “rock”, conspiracy theories swirl about how and why he died. Just hours before he had a heart attack at the Glastonbury Festival, he had learnt that a memo he had written — a stinging critique of the Tory party — was about to become public. There was, he had concluded, “no reason to join” the Conservatives and “lots of reasons not to”. Party members presented an unappealing